How the Whitefish rots

Alarms would be going off, if they ran on backup generators: In Hurricane Maria’s wake, roughly 75% of Puerto Ricans have no power. And rushing to the rescue is . . . one of America’s least experienced utility companies: tiny Whitefish Energy. Typically, when massive recovery efforts are required, states and territories activate “mutual aid” agreements, whereby utilities from other parts of the county lend their assistance.

Despite the fact that Puerto Rico is drowning in debt, its power authority inked a $300 million deal with novice Whitefish instead. It’s a company that, at the time Maria made landfall, had just two fulltime employees. Whose largest federal contract before now was a $1.3 million deal to upgrade a 5-mile transmission line in Arizona. Did we mention that Whitefish happens to be based in the hometown of Trump’s Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, who pleads ignorance?